Seth MacFarlane "never expected" Family Guy to go on for as long as it has.

The creator of the adult animated show - which was cancelled after three seasons in 2002, only to be brought back three years later due to popular demand - is shocked the series has gone on to be a huge success, and he relies on the ratings to dictate if he should continue with it.

"I never expected it to go on for so long. I ponder the end of Family Guy on a regular basis. It's important to know when a show has overstayed its welcome before your audience does. All you can do is look at the ratings. The ratings are still great, so there are still people watching it."

Seth has just made the jump from small screen to big screen with his feature-length directorial debut Ted, in which Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis star opposite a foul-mouthed teddy bear, and he insists cinema work is easier than cartoons. The 38-year-old star - who voices the character Ted and also wrote and produced the comedy movie - told Shortlist magazine, "If anything, I found I had more control. Rather than relying on 300 people to bring something to life over the course of nine months, you're relying on 300 people to bring something to life over the course of nine minutes."

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Seth MacFarlane, Fox and Warner Bros. have signed a deal that will bring The Flintstones back to TV. MacFarlane is the main voice talent and creator of Family Guy. According to gossip, the deal has taken many years of negotiations to complete.

The Flintstones ran for 6 years on ABC in the 60s. It spawned countless spin-offs, more TV specials than you can shake a stick at, five TV movies and two live-action flicks. Fox, et al. has acquired the television and film rights for the modern stone age family.

During Sunday night’s Family Guy episode, Chris Griffin went on a date with someone Stewie referred to as “Down syndrome girl.” While that comment alone would have been enough to get Palin’s family talking, it’s a reveal Chris’ crush made during dinner that put the controversy over the top: “My dad’s an accountant and my mom is the former governor of Alaska.”

Not pleased with the obvious connection to her special needs son, Sarah - a FOX News contributor - felt compelled to respond on both her Facebook page and on The O’Reilly Factor.

Going sans Simpsons for the night, FOX gave their entire Sunday night line-up to Seth MacFarlane, creator and main voice talent of Family Guy. Two brand-new episodes of the series, a fresh installment of the spin-off and a half-hour special featuring the man himself took up every last moment of the prime time bloc.

Could this be the dawn of a new, MacFarlane-driven era on FOX? Will Family Guy programming, and related shows, soon take up all of Sunday night?

The software corporation recently announced that it has severed ties from a FOX event it was set to exclusively sponsor. Family Guy Presents: Seth & Alex’s Almost Live Comedy Show, a special airing next month, would have incorporated bits about the company’s new product in lieu of traditional commercials. Unfortunately, the execs had a change of heart after watching a taping earlier this month.

Although animated portions of the variety special reportedly cover controversial subjects like incest, feminine hygiene and the Holocaust, those segments were supposedly in line with a typical Family Guy episode. It’s the live segments Seth MacFarlane and Alex Borstein (Lois Griffin) taped before an audience that may have been considered questionable.

Creator and voice talent for Family Guy, Seth MacFarlane sat down recently to do an interview with Playboy. During the discussion, he mentioned that youngest member of the household Stewie (the diabolical baby with matricidal tendencies) is homosexual.

“We had an episode that went all the way to the script phase in which Stewie does come out,” he revealed. Apparently, the episode revolved around Stewie’s problem with kids in school, resulting in a time-travel excursion to the writing of the Bible. MacFarlane says Stewie’s sexual preference explained “why he’s so hellbent on killing [Lois Griffin] and taking over the world. He has a lot of aggression, which comes from confusion and uncertainty about his orientation.”

I never knew so much thought and character development went into Family Guy, myself. The episode MacFarlane describes never made it to air, as it was decided to keep the matter ambiguous.

The Family Guy cast gathered recently for a live table read of the upcoming abortion issue, which has already made headlines in the media. So, did FOX’s animated prime time comedy tread very carefully around this hot-button issue? If you’ve got to ask, you just aren’t familiar with the show.

The episode, “Partial Terms of Endearment,” features a plot in which Lois Griffin (wife to title character Peter) becomes a surrogate mother for two friends. The couple goes on to die in a car accident, leaving Lois to ponder of the mysteries of life and possible abortion for the fetus she’s carrying. This story installment wouldn’t be dubbed “the abortion episode” if it didn’t feature Lois at least considering all her options.